On September 30, 1775 (per some naval histories placing the commissioning in this window), the Continental Congress moved to establish an American naval force, commissioning the converted merchantman USS Alfred. John Paul Jones, who would become the new navy's most celebrated commander, served aboard as first lieutenant and reportedly raised the first Grand Union flag over an American warship.
Facing the overwhelming might of the Royal Navy, the Continental Congress authorized the purchase and conversion of merchant vessels into a makeshift fighting fleet in autumn 1775. The Alfred, a converted merchant ship, became flagship of this tiny force under Commodore Esek Hopkins.
John Paul Jones, a Scottish-born mariner who had emigrated to the American colonies, served as the ship's first lieutenant. Naval tradition holds that Jones hoisted the first flag of the Continental fleet aboard Alfred, a striped Grand Union flag, an act later mythologized in American naval lore.
The Continental Navy that grew from this humble beginning would never rival British sea power directly, but figures like Jones would win symbolic victories—most famously his refusal to surrender aboard the Bonhomme Richard, declaring 'I have not yet begun to fight'—that gave the fledgling United States a naval identity and legend disproportionate to its material strength.
Key people: John Paul Jones, Esek Hopkins